Skunks
It is absolutely unmistakable. That awful, penetrating odor that seems to just cling to everything near the source of it. When you drive past a dead one on the highway, seemingly no matter how long it has been there, the car is filled with the smell, and everyone in the car gets the blame. You pray that your curious dog doesn't discover one in the backyard, and come galloping into the house to share his misery with the whole family. Even worse, you hope one of them does not discover the doggie-door itself, and come into the house to wander around and possibly leave the terrible problem on the carpet or furniture. This, of course, just has to be skunks.
	In addition to their odor, skunks are easily recognized by their characteristic color and pattern. There are five species of skunks in the United States, but three species seem to be best known and the most common. These are the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the eastern and western Spotted Skunks (Spilogale gracilis and S. putorius). One or another or several kinds are present in every state and in Canada. Even people who may have never actually seen a live skunk in the wild are aware of their appearance, for they have long been the subject of cartoons and jokes.
Skunks are true omnivores, eating a vast assortment of things including insects, small mammals, fish, crustaceans, fruits, grasses, leaves, buds, grains, nuts and carrion. They are opportunistic, and their diet changes depending on the time of year and available resources.
Skunks are nocturnal, sleeping during the day in underground burrows and emerging around dusk to search for food. They prefer to use existing burrows made by other animals of equal size or natural burrows under tree stumps or in buildings. They use their long front claws to build their own den if necessary, and this ability to dig in the soil becomes one of the problems
we deal with when we have skunks living around us. An absolute gourmet delight to a skunk is a large, plump, juicy grub, or beetle larva, and in much of the eastern U.S. grubs are common problems in lawns, where they feed on the roots of the turf and cause serious damage. While the skunk is doing us a favor by eating the grubs, it is necessary for it to expose the grubs first, so it may frantically dig up the lawn to get to the food it can smell or hear below
Skunks are not overly concerned about the presence of people - confident with their form of defense apparently - so they will commonly be found around human dwellings. They will hide under the house if there is a crawlspace, in an attic if they can find an opening and a tree to climb, in garages if access is provided through a doggie door, or under decks or out-buildings in the yard. They are nocturnal animals, active only at night if possible, so they are less likely to be seen than smelled. Strangely, they don't seem to be particularly fond of their own smell, and they will avoid squirting their defensive fluids into their own dens or in confined spaces. Their dens generally have very little odor to them.
Both males and females undergo periods of inactivity from November until March. Females often remain in their winter dens for the entire duration, but males usually emerge during mild temperature periods to feed. Winter dens usually consist of six females and their young. One male sometimes occupies a den with females, but usually lives alone in its own den. Dens can be any sheltered location, including under wood piles, in any burrow in the soil large enough to accommodate it, under buildings or even in water drainage pipes.
While we dislike the damage they will cause to lawns we do need to recognize the value of their diet on insects. Even the musk that we so violently dislike has a human use, for the "clingy" attribute of the musk makes it valuable in the perfume industry as a base for perfumes - once the odor is removed, of course. The skunk's use for the musk is obvious. It can control the spray of musk, which comes from glands around the anus, and is capable of spraying a stream of it up to 18 feet away! With great accuracy it can shoot the nauseating stream up to 10 feet, and do so several times in succession.
This release of the musk is purely defensive, and used only as a last resort. When they are frightened they first will stamp their front feet as a warning to the attacker, and if the threat remains the squirt of musk will follow. With the right conditions this odor can be smelled up to a mile away. There are a number of effective deodorizers that can be used on surfaces that have been sprayed, along with thorough washing of the surface, which will remove the odor. Recommended for washing are solutions of sudsy ammonia, vinegar, or canned tomatoes. If pets are sprayed the harsh ammonia should not be used, but the tomato juice recommendation does seem to have some good results. The vinegar and water solution could also be used on the fur, carefully avoiding the eyes of the pet.
Another very serious problem associated with skunks is rabies, and in many parts of the U.S. skunks are considered to be THE primary carrier of this disease. Sampling studies in California over a five year period determined that as much as 65% of skunks are infected with the disease, and rabies can be transmitted to people or pets when bitten by the infected skunk. This is a very, very serious disease, and will cause the death of people if it is not treated. To quote from a U. S. Department of Agriculture bulletin on skunks, they also are carriers of leptospirosis, listeriosis, canine distemper, canine hepatitis, Q-fever, tularemia, and trypanosoma. Skunks also are heavily infested with ticks, fleas, and mites, some of which themselves are vectors of diseases humans can catch.
if you see a skunk walking around in the daytime, particularly if it's behavior seems to be erratic, if it is acting unusually tame or unusually aggressive, or just wandering aimlessly - LEAVE IT ALONE - and contact a Professional. This behavior is symptomatic of an animal infected with rabies, and you do not want to get near it or allow your pets to get near it.
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